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Friday, 31 January 2014

We have another selection of Christmas cards made with Bugaboo digital stamps for you over on Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra. We are a multi craft challenge so it doesn't have to be a card, it just has to be for Christmas, so please come and join us.
My chosen stamp this month is Winter Bird Trio, three very cute feathered friends huddled together on a decorated branch. I have used alcohol markers to colour the birds, I've only just started using these pens so my efforts are slowly improving (very slowly!). There are little highlights on the snowflakes made with a clear Sakura gel pen which don't show too well in the photo, sorry. I did try different angles but sparkle is quite hard to capture.

The baubles have Glossy Accents added so they shine, that thankfully does show up well!
For the background layer I have used my only Punch Around The Page set from Martha Stewart. I have put my instruction sheet somewhere safe......so safe I can't find it!!! So I went on line and downloaded a new copy, this time it's A4 size. I also decided to make the first two measurements in copy paper so that next time I use it I don't have to spend ages checking my sizes, then I laminated it with the instructions on the front, hopefully I won't file this one away too securely!

Sunday, 26 January 2014

The challenge at the moment on The Technique Twist is bubble painting. I remember doing this with a nursery class and having to make sure that the children blew through their straw rather than suck! I had forgotten just how much fun it was.
I used some acrylic paint I had sitting around and put it with my washing up liquid in the lid of an A5 storage box. My twist was to use two colours, I started with blue and when that was dry went on to purple. What came out looked just right for water or sky.
I have a stencil from Dreamweaver of Koi Carp which I thought would look good on my bubbles. I have used Flitter Glu and gilding flakes to colour my fish.

In the second photo you can see the shine on the fish more clearly. The flake mix I used was Morris Dance from Indigo Blu.
The corners of the bubble card are punched and then a thread has been run around the edge to frame the image. There is also a little distress ink added to the edge to bring the colour in.
I have used a small snippet of oriental paper to make a ribbon effect and added a coin (thank you Karen) with some glossy accents in the middle. The phrase on the left is stamped and embossed in gold, I don't know what it says (I just hope it's something nice!) but I like how it looks.

Thursday, 23 January 2014

I love snowflakes and I like blue so why not put them together for a CAS Christmas card.
52 CCT have a recipe this week that went very nicely with a blue challenge at CHNC and a CAS card at TGOC, so this is what I came up with.
I have a splat stencil which is great fun to use so I thought about the puddle a melting snowflake would make and chose to use Distress Ink Salty Ocean. I have also edged my white card blank with the same ink. Through past mistakes I have learnt not to work directly on the card blank, so many have been lost that I now work on a topper and mount it when I'm happy with it.
The snowflake has been stamped in Archival Ink Cobalt and embossed with Cosmic Shimmer Aurora Crystal Sparkle powder. There is a single gem in the middle of the flake. The sentiment has also been stamped in Cobalt but left plain.
There is a narrow dark blue ribbon running across the bottom, which when you use a topper is easy to tuck the ends under for a tidy finish.

Wednesday, 22 January 2014

Here at The Male Room we are looking for items with a musical theme for our current challenge, cards, scrapbook pages or gifts made for the men in your life.
This began life as a white card blank, I have inked the edges with Distress Ink, The next step was to use a music stamp I have to create my own backing paper, this was done with Archival Black ink. The image is by Kat Van Gent and was printed on white card and trimmed to size. After going through all my stamps I couldn't find a suitable musical instrument, hard to believe I know.
I do have a small phrase and a single decorative music note from Hot Off The Press, so I have used the phrase on the outside and the note on the inside as well as the envelope. There is no other sentiment on it as yet, I tend to leave that until I know who I'm going to send it to and why.

Tuesday, 21 January 2014

There are several challenges this month that wish to see your New stash and a few that would like to see something that was new a while ago but has never yet been used so this set me thinking.
I treated myself to a set of stamps from Chocolate Baroque that I've had my eye on for some time, Gothic Fragments. These stamps seemed to fit well with a Sheena Douglass stamp I've had for a while but not used before called Ancient Arches. I also found a set of Spellbinders in a sale that were also arches...meant to be wasn't it.
Sheena has a rather good video tutorial on You Tube to create a scene with her arches stamp so I gave it a go, not too good so I did it again, still not so good, but third time lucky. I did things a little differently the third time and for me that seemed to work. I chose to stamp first and then add colour, this helped me get it in the right places and by this time the brush technique was well practiced too!

This is a rather dark card but I really wanted to use blues, this lent more to a night time scene. My friends daughter is a bit of a Goth so this will suit her well.
I cut the arch from the front panel before embossing, I had to use the Grand Calibur for this as I couldn't get it through my Sizzix with out folding it over which would have messed it up. The card is a very dark blue which embossed really well with a brick folder form Creative Expressions.

The acetate in the window is some of the packaging from the Spellbinder die set, crafters waste nothing...it may be useful!
I have used the Choc B stamp with Flitter Glu and gilding flakes on the acetate which gives a great effect. This stamp fits the second size arch die perfectly which made life much easier when mounting it up.
With the addition of a little ivy cut with a Marianne die on tiny foam pads to the front my box card was done. I did try adding a little white to the card front but it didn't look right so I chose to stay all dark and mysterious.
I'm hoping that this will also fit into a monochrome challenge, it is all blues including the stamping but the gilding flakes are silver with a few bits of gold so we'll have to try it and see.
With the addition of a Christmas Sentiment this will be perfect for Bex, she doesn't do cute!

It depends on the angle you view the card as to what you see most. With top light you can see the inside clearly but with front light the silver window really stands out. A card that changes with the light, much like a real ruin.

Thursday, 16 January 2014

We are midway through our monthly challenge at CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra, so here is the Bugaboo digi stamp that I used for my 'Thank ewe' cards, this time used to make a Christmas card.
I printed him twice so that I could cut and lift his head. The sentiment is the one you receive with the image. I printed onto some card stock that is recommended for use with alcohol markers, it's quite thick so I had to 'help' my printer gently swallow the card, once in it prints very well.
He is coloured with the same pens as before but his fleece and hat fur have been flocked in white. I used a fine tip on my Art Glitter PVA glue and made sure that I didn't cover any of the curls.
His head is mounted using some sticky foam pads, I just had to make sure the drawing lined up when I stuck it down. The sentiment bar is also mounted with foam pads and has a small border of gold glitter pen around it to make it sparkle.

There is a new challenge in blogland called CraftyHazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge. The idea is to use some of the mountain of patterned paper that we crafters seem to collect (and never use because it's too nice!).
I was sure I had some paper in my stash with candy canes on it, do you think I could find it? Eventually I did but to my surprise I only had one sheet, one sheet in the whole stash with canes on it! How could I possibly use the only sheet I had left? Oh the torment, what should I do? I made a cup of tea, had a ginger biscuit and got out the trimmer, time to be brave.....I did it, I actually used it!! So I'm off to the shop I got it from tomorrow to see if they have any left! Well I might need some more one day, maybe I should get two sheets just to be safe! Somehow I think this whittling down of the stash is going to be harder than I thought.

Wednesday, 8 January 2014

The challenge this time over at The Male Room is for a get well card. After all we know this is the season for 'man flu' so let's get ready for it with a small stock of cards to let them know we do care really.
This is a decoupage sheet from Joanna Sheen that I've had for a while so it seemed like the right time to use it. I've used thin foam pads so that it doesn't end up too thick to post.
The lettering is die cut using a Sizzix long alphabet plate and a Quickie Glue Pen, the pen is great for putting glue on tiny objects like these letters. It's a very simple card because it's the thought that counts.
We would love it if you found time to join us at The Male Room with your creations.

Tuesday, 7 January 2014

Hello and welcome to the first challenge of 2014 with Technique Time Tuesday. This month we are trying our hand at Triple Time Stamping and we'd like you to join us. There is a great tutorial over on the challenge blog to help get you started, as well as lots of gorgeous inspiration from the DT.
I had a few ideas bubbling away in my head so I tried them out on copy paper first and this is the one I decided to go with. One thing I would say is it works better on thinner card as there's less height gap for the stamp to cope with.
I cut out the butterflies with Xcut dies and used purple low tack tape to hold them in place while I stamped. The stamps are both Hydrangea's from Papermania, the inks are Versacolour five shade pads in greens and purples.
To get the purple layers I drew round the dies and hand cut them, they're quite an easy shape to cut luckily. I did use silicone glue to fix the layers onto the card so that I had a little bit of time to slide the butterflies into the right place.

I managed to get a little glue on the card face, which really bugged me, so I used my new toy to remove it. This is a battery operated eraser, it's great, you can rub out tiny blemishes without the need to scrub away at your artwork. I got it to use with my gilding flakes but it's proving to be a very valuable tool all round, I would recommend it to any paper crafter and it's not that expensive either.
I hope you do try this technique, it sounds fiddly but it's not really that bad and the effect is something very different. Click here to see a Christmas card made using this technique.

Monday, 6 January 2014

A new year and a new look for House Of Cards. The format has been changed a little, we're going fortnightly now so you get a little more time to finish your creations. We still have style catagories but Cute has teamed up with Shabby and CAS has teamed up with Classic. Please pop over to House Of Cards challenge blog and take a look at the changes, I think you'll find it's a little easier to follow so please come and join in.
My shabby card started with the chipboard image from Graphic45 that came free on a magazine, I've just gone around the edge with a Tarnished Brass Distress Paint to bling it up a tiny bit. I managed to find some backing paper that almost matched the chippy, the edges are distressed with Old Paper DI and mounted on a thin layer of pale pink paper.
The paper lace along the bottom has had a length of pink ribbon that came from an old diary stuck on to it before being stuck across the lower edge.
The pearl swirl is something that's been in my stash for ages and as there was a big open space I thought it would be ideal. The paper flower was white but has been sprayed with a Cosmic Shimmer Antique Rose mister and a pink pearl stuck in the middle when dry.
The sentiment is die cut from satin gold mirri card, then painted with the Tarnished Brass DP so it matches the chippy. I've used another piece of pink ribbon to make a bow for the chippy to finish it off. I used a Kraft card blank to keep it in the shabby / vintage style.
I hope you like it. Please come and join us at HOC, we'd love to see your creations and with four styles to choose from, plus a lovely sketch to follow and some great DT inspiration I'm sure you'll find something to get you started.

Wednesday, 1 January 2014

To begin the new year I have a couple of new challenges. One is to master my new computer, the old one finally curled up it's USB's on the Friday before Christmas, great timing! I'm getting to grips with a new layout but I'm struggling with the loss of some very familiar functions, I'm sure it's all in there somewhere I just have to be patient and search for it. To add insult to injury it doesn't seem to like my old but perfectly good printer, I don't need to replace it, it still works!!!!!
My second new challenge is much better news.........I have been asked to join Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra Design Team!!! Yippee, now I have a very good reason to make Christmassy projects all year round, as if I needed an excuse.Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra is a monthly Anything Christmas Goes challenge blog with the chance to win a prize kindly donated by Bugaboo Stamps. The design team will show you some great ideas each month made using Bugaboo digital stamps, so please pop over and take a look.
My Bugaboo image for this month is called Merry Christmas to 'ewe'. It comes as a separate image and sentiment. For these little cards I have chosen to use just the image and generate my own sentiment to fit the occasion.
The stamp has been printed out on A6 card and folded to make small thank ewe cards for my son to use. To batch make this card I chose A6 so that I can get four from an A4 sheet and they will fit into a C6 envelope (unfolded) for posting. I also kept the decoration simple using just four alcohol markers to colour the picture.
I love this image so I shall make some cards with it later in the month ready for next year, we have family in Wales so I'm sure they'll be well received!
If you have the time please pop over and join us at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra and start your cards for next year, it really does take the pressure off in December if you make just a couple each week.

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About Me

I've been crafting for as long as I can remember, thanks to the encouragement of my family. I'm a freelance demonstrator and designer based in Norfolk, UK. I am also on a few design teams and get to work for some great suppliers in craft shops and at shows.